


Querencia

by jargoc



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, Injury, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-06
Updated: 2016-08-06
Packaged: 2018-07-29 18:42:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,473
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7695217
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jargoc/pseuds/jargoc
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lance is the only place where Keith feels like he belongs.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Querencia

 

"Lance!" Keith yells, when the intercom explodes with the sound of Lance's screaming. Keith's gaze snaps to the small video feed where Lance's face had just been just in time to see Lance's fierce and focused expression before it cuts into silence and disappears. His pulse leaps and Keith pulls down hard on Red's controls. "Lance, what happening? Where are you?" he says, trying to keep the fear out of his voice.

He doesn't wait for Lance's answer, and whips Red through astroids to find the blue lion. Every second that passes without Lance's reply has Keith pushing Red as fast as she can go. 

_Where are you?_

A flash of blue and a bright exploding light catches his eye. Keith shot straight toward it without a second thought. Closer he realized it was the blue lion. A small galran ship slammed into the blue lion's side and both ships were now hurtling toward the planet.

"Shit," Keith hisses before sending Red right after them. Once in the planet's atmosphere, Keith could see Lance and the ship shooting at one another. The damage from their impact was extensive, the blue lion's front leg dangles uselessly at it's side and the galran ship could barely steer straight.

It was going to be a rough landing.

Keith shoots at the ship, trying to get their fire on anything other than the blue lion, but not before the ship gets one good shot that sends the blue lion spinning out of control toward the surface of the planet. Keith curses again, and keeps firing at the enemy ship, trying to focus on his aim and not allow himself to worry threatening to drag him under the waters.

When they finally land—crash—Keith leaps into action, sword at the ready. He looks around for Lance and finds him already shooting at some soldiers that slowly but steadily begin to surround him. Adrenaline pumps through Keith's veins as he runs into the chaos slicing and thrusting his sword. 

"Lance!" he yells, getting closer, "You okay?"

Lance shoots right past Keith's head to hit an enemy that had snuck up on him while he was momentarily distracted and answers, "Watch your back! Stop worrying about me!"

Irritation floods his chest and a stinging remark burns at the back of his throat but he turns his attention back to the fighting, using that frustration as fuel to take down the soldiers. They just keep coming. One after another, giving Keith no time at all to really see how badly Lance was hurt. He only caught glimpses of Lance in the corner of his eyes, and what he saw wasn't promising. Lance was limping, that much was clear, it could just be a sprain but it could be so much worse.

Keith cuts though another soldier, grunting and panting with effort, trying desperately to make this go as quickly as possible. His limbs burned with every swing of his sword, and his lungs heaved with every ragged breath but he couldn't stop. If he could finish these guys off he could go tend to—

A pained scream breaks Keith's concentration and he whips his head around just in time to see a Galran soldier send Lance flying. Lance hits the wall with a loud thunk that would haunt Keith in his nightmares, and crumples to the ground seemingly lifeless. The universe tilts suddenly and Keith stumbles giving his enemy the time to hit him hard across the face with the butt of their gun. His world goes white in a moment of agony and he thrusts his sword forward, slicing through the soldier. 

The sound of Lance hitting the wall replays in his head like the scratch of a record.

The thunk of his body.

The crack of his helmet.

Over and over.

A wave of nausea hits him so hard that Keith actually thinks he might just throw up.

_Lance_

His legs are moving before he can even process it. He sprints on legs made of lead toward Lance, cutting down every enemy in his way. He snarls at Galran soldiers and kicks them off of his blade before cutting into another. No mercy, just a feral grief fueling him and leaving a trail of fallen Galran soldiers in its wake. His heart beats so loudly in his ears he can barely hear the way the Galran soldiers scream as they fall on his sword. He was a man possessed, and the only thing on his mind was getting to Lance.

"Lance!" Keith screams, his voice broken and raw as he skids over to Lance's body. He rips off Lance's helmet and grits his teeth against the sob that threatens to burst past his lips when he sees the damage. He knows from Garrison training that you're not supposed to move someone when they've sustained an injury such as this, so he doesn't, but he touches Lance's face, and fights against the desperate urge to shake him. He's breathing, Keith can see that, but still, he needs to wake up... he can't be...

"Lance," Keith says, hysteria slipping through the cracks, "Lance! Come on! Wake up, you idiot! You can't die... Lance!" 

It can't end like this. It just can't. 

"Lance," Keith tries again, sounding absolutely miserable, "Lance please..."

 

* * *

 

"You don't ever miss it?" Lance had asked him once, looking off into the horizon.

The question had surprised Keith, confused him even, "Miss what?" he asked, looking over at Lance whose gaze was still glued to the moons rising out of the hues of purple and orange tinted clouds.

Quiet moments like this were rare with Lance, but they did happen, and Keith found himself dangerously attached to them. Lance was irritating and loud and got under Keith's skin in a way that no one had ever managed to do, and most of the time they spent together they spent bickering and trying to one up each other but they also had times like this. And Keith was starting to realize he wouldn't trade them for anything.

"Home," Lance answered.

Keith remembered the way the answer had made his stomach twist. Lance had said it as if the answer was so obvious and Keith genuinely had no clue. Anger and bitterness rose in his gut and he gritted out a sharp 'no' that made Lance finally look in his direction.

It was strange. Lance usually lashed out whenever Keith answered him like that but that time Lance had looked confused, even a little sorry for Keith.

That had pissed him off and he looked away before Lance could really see what was going on in his head. Most people seemed to have a tough time understanding the workings of Keith's mind, but Lance always understood. With one look Lance could always see right through him, like Keith was made of glass.

"You know, my mom used to say that you didn't need to have a house to have a home," Lance started speaking again, his voice more gentle and tender than Keith had ever heard it. Keith had dared to look at him out of the corner of his eye. Lance was looking back out at the horizon with a small smile at his lips. Keith's heart had slammed into his ribs and he felt breathless. "Querencia, she called it," Lance's voice was so soft that Keith gave up trying to pretend he wasn't looking at him and turned to look directly at him.

"What?"

Lance rolled his eyes but kept speaking, "It's like..." Lance shot Keith a glare and made a small frustrated noise, "It's hard to explain... it's where you get your strength from, a place where you feel most like... you." Lance's cheeks burned slightly and the realization that Lance was blushing made Keith blush too. He looked away from Lance quickly again, and tried to concentrate on the moons again.

"That doesn't make any sense," Keith said with a scoff, trying to regain some normalcy between them.

Lance had snorted, "I said that too when she first explained it to me, but... I kinda get it now."

When Keith glanced over at Lance he was surprised to see Lance looking right back at him. He panicked. There had been something building between the two of them, and Keith had been trying to ignore it for days... weeks... he didn't know how long he had been trying to keep it at bay. He didn't even know what that something was, all Keith knew was that it was something that had scared Keith shitless. He didn't get attached to things, didn't get attached to people. If you never got attached, you never had to lose anything. 

So Keith did what he does best. He ran. That day he got up and left with some dismissive comment. Anything to kill the mood that built between them. But that night he went to sleep with the word ringing in his head.

 

* * *

 

He understood it now, with Lance laying on the ground unconscious and just barely breathing.

Lance was the place that Keith felt most like himself. His fights with Lance made him feel alive, made him feel like the only place in the universe where Keith belonged was right at Lance's side.

Lance was home to him, the only home he ever had, and he couldn't lose him. 

"Lance," Keith begs. "Lance, get _up_ , I get it now," he grits through clenched teeth, "That place where I feel most like me, is with _you_ , so you can't die you idiot! You can't..." Keith can't help it now, the sobs wont stop. Anger and grief and every emotion that Keith has ever felt releases itself in the body wracking sobs that consume him. 

And it figures, it just fucking figures that Keith would only figure it out when it's too late.

Of fucking course he realizes that he can't lose Lance when he's already losing him.

Why didn't he ever learn? Why did he let everything slip through his fingers? He only realized his feelings for Shiro the day he left for the Kerberos mission. He missed his opportunity to allow himself something then, and when Shiro had come back into his life it as obvious that there was nothing left to get back. It was over, and Keith was too late.

Too late then. Too late now.

"God damnit!" Keith screams in anguish. He yanks off his helmet and throws it as hard as he can, just to hear the satisfying noise of something breaking. 

"Can you stop yelling?" A voice groans, and the bottom drops out of Keith's stomach. "My head is killing me."

_No_ , Keith thinks, _This has to be some sort of sick hallucination, he can't be..._

"Lance?" Keith asks, wiping his face of tears and looking down at Lance, his heart lurching into his throat.

Lance crack open his eyes and grins, "Are you crying over me, Mullet?"

The relief his him like a physical blow and Keith lets out a half laugh, half sob, before breaking into a fit of laughter. There wasn't anything about this situation that was funny, not in the slightest, but here Keith was _laughing_ , and he couldn't stop. 

Slowly Lance gets up on his forearms and looks worried, which only makes Keith laugh harder. Lance was worried for _him._ There was just something so  _Lance_  about that, that Keith couldn't of dreamed it up. This was real.

Lance was  _alive_.

Alive, alive, alive.

"Maybe I did die," Lance says, rubbing the back of his head, "That or you're broken."

Keith settles down finally, but the smile doesn't fade from his face.

"You're alive," Keith says, smile shocked but still present, "How? I saw that soldier throw you.."

"Boosters," Lance explains with a proud grin that makes Keith want to punch him and kiss him at the same time. "Used them to soften the blow, come on Keith, I'm not that easy to kill." He gives Keith another look, one thats definitely supposed to make Keith feel better. Which admittedly... it does, but he still can't believe it. Just seconds ago Lance was dead and lifeless on the ground, and Keith was losing everything and now—

"Keith?" Lance squeezes his hand, and Keith only then realizes that he had reached out and grabbed it at some point. Lance's voice was just as soft as it had been when he had said 'querencia', Keith was just as shocked by it. His heart did the same flutter. "Seriously, Keith, I'm okay..."

Every alarm in Keith's mind was going off now as the air between them charged with that familiar static.

_Say something, ruin the moment, don't let yourself get too close._

Keith squeezes Lance's hand, fighting against the urge to pull away.

He had been given a second chance. It wasn't too late. Lance was still here. 

"I get it now," Keith repeats himself, and Lance's eyebrows raise in confusion. But Keith doesn't give him an opportunity to say anything, "Querencia," he says and Lance's mouth falls open confused and a little shocked, "You're mine."

Before he can talk himself out of it, Keith is pulling himself closer and pressing his lips to Lance's. Lance makes a small noise, but he doesn't push away. He kisses Keith back, seemingly more familiar with the action than Keith, even though Keith was pretty sure he wasn't. The kiss is rough and desperate. Teeth bump together and noses mash uncomfortably, both boys using it to tell the other something that they had pushed deep down for too long. They both knew it had almost been too late, and they weren't going to hold back anymore.

When they finally pull back enough to breathe, Keith rests his forehead against Lance's. 

"You completely butchered my favorite word," Lance teases, "Do the Spanish language a favor and never try speaking it again."

Keith punches Lance in the shoulder, cheeks red with embarrassment, "You're such an asshole, I take back everything I said."

Lance grunts, and his eyebrows twist in pain, much to Keith's amusement, "Hey! Just because I'm not dead doesn't mean you can punch me! I'm still wounded!"

Keith pushes himself up and tosses Lance his helmet, "If you don't want to get punched you shouldn't be a jerk," he picks up his helmet, his visor cracked and useless. They would need to use Lance's to call the others.

"Whatever," Lance says, pulling his helmet over his head with a huge shit-eating grin plastered on his face. Keith grins right back and helps Lance up, wrapping an arm around his waist. "Anyways, it too late to take it back," Lance says, looking up at Keith with a knowing glance that makes Keith feel hot all over. "Ready to go home?"

Home.

Keith smiles and nods, "Let's go."

**Author's Note:**

> So I have had parts of this little ficlet written down in my notebook for a while now, working off of the prompt "keith seeing lance after a battle and realizing he was in love with him" after seeing one of my friend's tweets, but I couldn't tie together all of the pieces until I was talking with my mother and she reminded me of the word "querencia". She taught me this word back in the day and my emo 13 year old self LOVED that word. 
> 
> I used it all of the time it was embarrassing.
> 
> Anyway, when she reminded me about it I was suddenly inspired and finished this up finally haha, hope you enjoyed!!


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